Sally Osberg to Step Down as President and CEO of Skoll Foundation

April 20, 2017

Sally Osberg, president and CEO of the Skoll Foundation, has announced that she plans to step down after sixteen years in the job.

Osberg, who joined the foundation as its founding president and CEO in 2001, will remain in her role until a new president has been named and is in place. Embracing Common Cause and Independent Sector founder John W. Gardner's counsel to "bet on good people doing good things," Osberg drove the foundation's support for the emerging world of social entrepreneurship. Under her leadership, the Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship portfolio has grown to support a hundred ventures over the past fifteen years, while the Skoll World Forum on Social Entrepreneurship, established in 2004 in partnership with the Saïd Business School of Oxford University, has evolved into an important platform where social entrepreneurs can showcase their solutions and forge connections that help amplify their impact. Widely respected as a thought leader in the field, Osberg has published extensively during her time with the foundation, including successful collaborations with Skoll Foundation board member Roger Martin, most recently on Getting Beyond Better: How Social Entrepreneurship Works.

"Sally has been a major pillar of my work to better the world for sixteen years," said Jeff Skoll, founder and chairman of the Skoll Foundation. "I was admittedly new to philanthropy after leaving eBay. Having Sally by my side, with wisdom that transcended our work together, has been a joy and a privilege. Working with her team, she has assembled and systematically supported the world's greatest social entrepreneurs; created opportunity for us to work with and learn from some of the world's most inspiring leaders, from Nelson Mandela to Malala; produced the annually ever-better Skoll World Forum; and moved out in front of critical issues such as aligning our full endowment with our mission."

"Today, first and most profoundly, I am flooded with gratitude for Jeff and his trust," said Osberg. "What a rare and precious gift it has been to support a man whose intellect is matched by his resolve, whose wit is as ready as his gravitas, and whose creativity knows no bounds. I am grateful as well for the many outstanding women and men who have helped bring Jeff's vision to life, including and especially every member of the Skoll Foundation team. For me, this is the right move at the right time for all the right reasons. While I will miss more than I can say about the Skoll Foundation, I couldn't be more confident about its future; indeed, the foundation truly is poised to deliver even greater value in the years ahead."